Just a preface. My poor computer has died and not just the battery but the “motherboard” (that is what the computer place said). My precious teammate Brady Denger wrote a blog asking for prayer. So please read and if you don’t find it embarassing to pray for electronics please join us.
This is a continuation of my first blog A night of Beach Street Part 1… As the night continued at the bar we ended up leaving earlier than normal. Not quite sure what happened because PeFawn doesn’t really speak English so something about a key? So we decided to sit on a bench and pray for the street and the women.
As we began praying three women walked up to us. I am not exactly sure how the conversation began but they sat down and we started talking. We gave them tracts and I began talking to one woman named Deena. She had just moved to Pattaya the day before and she was looking for work as a maid at a hotel. Well, that night we were meeting a friend that we have met previously and he works as a receptionist a local hotel. So I told her that and we exchanged information and Lord willing he will be able to get her a job and not in a bar.
As we were talking these three Indian/Middle Eastern men walked by and stopped in front of us. Just a little explanation… There are many foreigners in Pattaya from all different areas of the world. So that is not a surprise to see “farangs” (foreigners) on the street. Well they started talking to each other in an unknown tongue and pointing at me. And I asked Deena do they think I am a prostitute? She said, yes! That maybe they like white girls and not Thai girls? I looked at them and said me? and they affirmed my suspicions. They believed I was for sale! Friends & family – you know me, I do not dress provocatively. I was wearing a t-shirt and a dress to midcalf. Nothnig that could have said I was for sale.
Anyways, they came and sat down beside me and asked where I was from, I told them America and that I was a Christian missionary and I was praying for the women in the bars. They did end up leaving but not before telling me I was “very beautiful” (which I could have lived without). It was one of the strangest things that has happened to me directly. Strange things always happen to us almost everyday on the Race but to be mistaken for a prostitute in Thailand tops the list for me.
But God again gets the glory. We ended up being able to pray for all three women and one of them came to church this past Sunday and she received Christ! So in the end it was worth the slight awkwardness (now we just laugh about it) and to know that I have a new sister in Christ through that night. Praise God for His infinite timing and wisdom. The scripture that comes to mind is Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
